Global warming is one of the biggest issues of our time. To meet the targets set for reducing CO2 emissions, it's widely accepted that new technology will play an important role, sometimes as a "bridging technology", while alternative sustainable energy sources are being developed. One of the most promising technologies is Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). This a means of capturing CO2 from sources such as power plants, compressing the CO2 and storing it away safely in geological formations underground or under the seabed instead of releasing it into the atmosphere.

Governments support energy production and consumption in order to meet social, economic and environmental objectives, and they have been doing so for decades. In times of economic crisis, public budgets and household incomes come under pressure. At the same time, countries need to kick‑start their economies by creating new employment opportunities in emerging industries such as the renewable sector. This report examines the support allocated to energy production and consumption in Europe and its impact on innovation in renewable energy.

This document is the annual European Union emission inventory report under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP). The report and its accompanying data are provided as an official submission to the secretariat for the Executive Body of the LRTAP Convention by the European Commission on behalf of the European Union. The report is compiled by the European Environment Agency (EEA).

This document is the European Union emission inventory report under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP). It includes information on the formal institutional arrangements that underpin the European Union's emission inventory, emission trends for the EU‑27 and Member States, and the contribution of important individual emission sources to total emissions, sector group emission trends for key pollutants, information on recalculations and future planned improvements.

Air pollution from the 10,000 largest polluting facilities in Europe cost citizens between € 102 and 169 billion in 2009. This was one of the findings of a new report from the European Environment Agency (EEA) which analysed the costs of harm to health and the environment caused by air pollution. Half of the total damage cost (between € 51 and 85 billion) was caused by just 191 facilities.

Dealing with large quantities of unwanted (and sometimes toxic) waste is often difficult – but it becomes even more complicated when people live in isolated communities, in extreme environments hundreds of kilometres from the nearest treatment plant. This is the subject of a new film considering waste management in Greenland, entitled ‘Mission Greenland – for a cleaner future’.